Advances in plasma processing have provided for growth in the semiconductor industry. To be competitive, a manufacturing company needs to be able to process the substrates into quality semiconductor devices. Tight control of the process parameters is generally needed to achieve satisfactory results during substrate processing. When the processing parameters (e.g., RF power, pressure, bias voltage, ion flux, plasma density, and the likes) fall outside of a pre-defined window, undesirable processing results (e.g., poor etch profile, low selectivity, damage to the substrate, damage to the processing chamber, and the likes) may result. Accordingly, the ability to identify conditions when the processing parameters are outside the pre-defined windows is important in the manufacture of semiconductor devices.
During substrate processing, certain uncontrolled events may happen that may damage the substrate and/or cause damage to the processing chamber components. To identify the uncontrolled events, data may be collected during substrate processing. Monitoring devices, such as sensors, may be employed to collect data about the various process parameters (such as bias voltage, reflected power, pressure, and the likes) during substrate processing. As discussed herein, sensor refers to a device that may be employed to detect conditions and/or signals of a plasma processing component. For ease of discussion, the term “component” will be used to refer to an atomic or a multi-part assembly in a processing chamber.
The type and amount of data that are being collected by the sensors have increased in recent years. By analyzing the data collected by the sensors in relation to the process module data and the process context data (chamber event data), parameters that are outside of the pre-defined window may be identified. Accordingly, corrective actions (such as recipe adjustment) may be provided to stop the uncontrolled event(s), thereby preventing further damage from occurring to the substrate and/or the processing chamber components.